1. |
Pilgrim Train
05:53
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Pilgrim Train
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
I am a pilgrim
Am a pilgrim
Gonna climb on board
Climb on board
And ride that train
Ride that train
To see my Lord
To see my Lord
Where he sets a table
Sets a table
And he lays a feast
Lays the feast
And there the mighty
There the mighty
Gonna serve the least.
Serve the least
CHORUS:
Bend and cut
One for my woman
Bend and cut
One for my Lord
Bend and cut
One to pay the credit
Bend and cut
At the factory store
Bend and cut
One for the Big House
Bend and cut
And the next again
Bend and cut
One to buy my ticket
Bend and cut
On the Pilgrim Train
Until that day
Until that day
When I board that train
Board that train
You will find me
You will find me
Cutting cane
Cutting cane
I use my back
I use my back
And the work of my hands
Of my hands
To glean a promise
Glean a promise
Of the Promised Land.
Of the Promised Land.
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2. |
Luna's Tango
04:53
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Luna’s Tango
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
Dance with me
Come on a take a chance with me
You cannot shift your glance from me
Enraptured as I wax and wane
The shadows darken and at midnight’s stroke
We’ll cast our spell upon the shanty folk
We’ll cover factory town in dusky smoke
A mix of sin and boiling cane.
Dark descends
And all along the street the night portends
Your truer nature and when nightfall ends
We’ll see who crawls out from the cane.
Don’t blame me
The moonlight’s glow reveals your destiny
The darker conflict you cannot foresee
Erupts into a passion play.
Hounds will bay
Midnight’s creatures come out and play
Owls see what humankind ignores
Stay inside
If the truth you cannot abide
As trouble laps these swampy shores.
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3. |
A Woman's Gotta Do
04:02
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A Woman’s Gotta Do
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do
Got to feed her child and protect herself too
If she thinks too much, she might get blue
But a woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do
Well, she loves her God, loves her man
Loves her child, Will she take a stand?
She tries to sense right from wrong.
If her voice is small, her heart is strong.
In the fields the sun is hot.
A man he suffers, he suffers a lot.
But in the kitchen, if truth be told,
A woman is waging a war for her soul. REFRAIN
If somebody opened a door, tell me, wouldn’t you walk through?
In a world full of walls
A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do.
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4. |
The Circle
03:04
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The Circle
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
Up from rotting floor boards
And cold stone factory walls
The autumn dusk will grab you
And hold you in its thrall
Think you’re independent?
Have plans to go your way?
The chains of life wil hold you
Mired in the Georgia clay.
Pivot in the grinder will wear a man down.
Man lives life in this circle ‘til he’s in the ground.
You’re about as free
As a mule harnessed to a pole.
Think you’re on your way somewhere
Think you’re in control.
But season after season
Everything’s the same.
You’re still picking cotton.
You’re still grinding cane.
Pivot in the grinder will wear a man down.
You’ll go ‘round that circle ‘til you’re in the ground.
Pickaninnies dream of
The men they’ll be someday
Young men dream of jelly roll
And romping in the hay.
Working men dream of
Better work and better pay.
Old men dream of childhood
And live in yesterday.
Pivot in the grinder will wear a man down.
No man escapes the circle ‘til he’s in the ground.
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5. |
Slow Boil
03:06
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Slow Boil
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
Not too slow and not too hot
Never give her all you got
Stir it a little, but not a lot
Don’t use all that fuel,
Careful children, not too fast
Got to make the sweetness last
Nothing foreign, nothing new
Please don’t kick that mule.
CHORUS:
If a little sweetness is your goal
Simmer ‘til it just begins to roll
Otherwise you just might lose control
You got to keep it at a very slow boil.
Canebrake’s rustling loud tonight
Eerie in the red moonlight
Strange things mixing out of sight
Hold onto what you got
Sweet thing sour mighty fast
If you don’t respect the past
Bless the ones who take a chance
There’s trouble in the pot.
Come here sugar, see what I got
Sticky sweet for you
Pulsing, rising in the pot
Keeping it hot for you
I will be your sugar daddy
I’ll always be true
If you’ll be my sugar bun
Just a pinch will do.
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6. |
Red Devil Moon
05:36
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Red Devil Moon
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
Boys it best you beware
When you see it in the air
That’s the haze of a red devil moon
When the air is moist and thick
It’s so sweet it makes you sick
That’s the night of the red devil moon.
REFRAIN:
When you’re hungry for more
Come on out that factory door
You can’t hide from that red devil moon
When your woman can’t be found
Chances are, she’s playing around
Led astray by that red devil moon.
When the hounds start to bay
And the chickens will not lay
That’s the night of a red devil moon.
When the mule spindles shake
And the mill thread starts to break,
That’s the night of a red devil moon.
On a night such as this,
When there’s magic in the mist,
That’s the night of a red devil moon.
And strange things will unfold
When it has you in its hold
On the night of a red devil moon.
When nature is transformed
Like the air before a storm
That’s the night of a red devil moon.
When the mule mounts the calf
And you crave what you can’t have
That’s the night of a red devil moon.
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7. |
Factory Town Waltz
02:55
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8. |
The One We Choose
06:42
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The One We Choose
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
A Paris night, the moon is bright upon the land
A crowded street where lovers meet, you brush my hand.
Just to think we’re passing there and no one cares what we might do or say
Every walk of life is there and every form of life is on display.
In such a place so full of strange and different views
We’re free to love the one we choose.
You take me to establishments with finer fare
No longer small or scared, equal of any there
Maybe we’ll sit down to tea, with china cups and dainty things to eat
And leave together, arm in arm, we’ll stroll the streets
In such a world, the two of us would not be news.
And we’re free to love the one we choose.
The feel of silk upon my skin, and I’m renewed
Perhaps in the right setting I’m a lady, too.
Who’s to say the difference between a lady and her serving maid
Isn’t just a pair of silken stockings and a gown of silk brocade
As music of the cafes fills the avenues
We’re free to love the one we choose.
We work together, side by side, just me and you.
The ordinary things enhanced when done as two.
Isn’t it a mystery that love can be around you all the time?
Who’s to say it’s not the way God planned,
It was just what God designed.
Together we can claim a right we cannot lose,
We’re free to love the one we choose.
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9. |
Good Enough
02:44
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Good Enough
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
I am good when you need stockings
I’m good when you need bread
But when your heart is hungry
You turn elsewhere instead.
Don’t you think it hurts me deeply?
Don't you think I feel things too?
The way I feel about you,
It is powerful and true.
Don’t you think it hurts me deeply?
Don't you think I feel things too?
The way I feel about you,
It is powerful and true.
I was good enough on Monday
When I caught you by the well,
But when I see you Sunday
You act like I’m going to Hell.
Well, I was good enough for Mary,
I was good enough for Sue.
I was good enough for Maggie.
Aint’ I good enough for you?
I was good enough for Mary,
I was good enough for Sue.
I was good enough for Maggie.
Aint’ I good enough for you?
Would you rather be a pauper,
Or be my captive queen?
You could be my Cleopatra
And I’ll be Mark Antony.
And you’ll ride in regal splendor
As long as you are in my grasp.
Would you be like Cleopatra,
Give it all up for an asp?
And you’ll ride in regal splendor
As long as you are in my grasp.
Would you be like Cleopatra,
Give it all up for an asp?
Oh, love is for the landed,
Those of a certain class.
The landless poor are lucky
Just to get a piece of ass.
So when you’re in your shanty,
Alone and feeling blue,
Just remember what I offered,
‘Cause it’s good enough for you.
Don’t you think it hurts me deeply?
Don’t you think I feel things too?
I was good enough for Mary,
I was good enough for Sue.
So when you’re in your shanty,
All alone and feeling blue,
Just remember what I offered,
‘Cause it’s good enough for you.
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10. |
Tree and Man
02:49
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Tree and Man
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz & Robert Earl Price
Somewhere on the veldt there’s a tree, brother
Where your fathers knelt, on their knees, brother
We have always felt sympathy for one another.
Tree and man. Man and tree.
The day that you came forth on this earth, brother
Beneath my roots they buried the afterbirth, brother
Our two lives are twined, for what it’s worth, brother
Tree and man. Man and tree.
I could be a drum to keep the beat, brother.
I could be a stool and be your seat, brother.
Our two souls complete one another.
Tree and man. Man and tree.
If I can’t be a drum
Lord, let me be a stool
If I can’t be a drum
Lord, let me be a stool
Let me be a wooden witness , nobody’s fool.
Carve from me a sword for the fight, brother.
Plane me and I’ll be your shield, for cover.
Boil my sap and salve your wounds, brother.
Tree and man. Man and tree.
Your afterbirth and ashes nourish me, brother.
Just as you eat the fruit from the tree, brother.
What I exhale you inhale, continually, brother.
Tree and man. Man and tree.
I could be a mantle
Or a widow’s wooden spool
I could be a mantle
Or a widow’s wooden spool
Let me serve a purpose, be nobody’s fool.
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11. |
Whole Man
03:30
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Whole Man
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
LOUISA:
Bring me a whole man, and nothing less
Only a whole man can give me that sweet caress
That my whole woman is longing for.
Don’t you bring no half man ‘round my door.
I want your whole heart, a half won’t do
Only a whole heart can love me through and through
If you love me half-hearted it won’t be nice.
You’ll only get me half-way to paradise.
In my whole life, I could not see
There might be a whole man like you out there for me.
I waited my whole life for a real man’s touch
I’m not giving it up for half as much!
TOM:
There’s not a living man who can compete
Without a woman’s love, he’s incomplete.
Not ‘til I have her, hold her, make her mine,
Will my star begin to shine.
So baby, give me what you got to give
The breathe upon your lips is what I need to live
Do not deprive me of a brother’s due
‘Cause you’re made for me and I’m made for you.
LOUISA:
And that is where you have me wrong
It’s what I’ve been telling you throughout this whole damn song
Until you’re all you need, no longer bought and sold
‘Til you can stand alone without a hand to hold
Until your man enough to let me be
You can’t be the man for me.
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12. |
Ain't No Fire
03:32
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Ain't No Fire
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
Call me boy, tell me to run, will you?
Save my life, if I can.
Even now, you’ll tell me when to fear as if that
Too is for you to command.
Well I wonder, do you tell the stars when to rise?
Is it you tells the birds when to take to the skies?
Do the trees change their hues at the blink of your eyes?
Cause there Ain’t no fire, ain’t no fist
Ain’t no hangman gonna make me twist
Ain’t no devilish hound of hell
Try your torture, it won’t work so well
‘Cause I’ll do everything I can
To show you I’m a man
As this tree is my witness
As the moon testifies
I’ve a destiny unrelated to
Anything you can surmise.
Imagine a world where you don’t own it all
Not my dreams, not my loves, not my hands, not my soul
Just a world where our love is beyond your control
‘Cause I’ve the rage of the ages in my blood
Rising with the tempest like a mighty flood
It’s bound to overwhelm us both
But I’ll stand my ground and by my oath
I’ll do everything I can
To show you I’m a man.
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13. |
Meet Me at the Station
04:02
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Meet Me at the Station
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
Meet me at the station
Ride these rails of hope
It needs no explanation
Slip off the hanging rope
Choose a life of peace with me
Where what you earn is yours.
Together we will stand secure.
Together we will stand secure.
Meet me at the station
I’ll be waiting there
There’s a brighter nation
For those who pay the fare.
In the North, it’s not a crime
To be a poor, black man in debt.
Leave these fields with no regret.
Leave these fields with no regret.
Meet me on the platform
Climb aboard that train
Come embrace the future
Sing a new refrain
Come enjoy the full and fruitful
Labor of your hands
In a bright, new promised land.
In a bright, new promised land.
Labor in the cane fields
Produces syrup sweet
But all that you can savor
Is somehow incomplete
All your efforts line the pockets
Of he who owns the land
In the fields you’re half a man.
In the fields you’re half a man.
Join us in the city
Hear the factory bell.
There’s work for every man there
One can live quite well.
We’ll rent a room and raise our children
Free from fear and care
Freedom’s only sweet when shared.
Freedom’s only sweet when shared.
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14. |
Raise High Your Voices
07:39
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Raise High Your Voices
(c) 2013 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
Raise high your voices, raise ‘em high
There’s a train in the station
And it’s time to say goodbye.
Raise high your voices, raise ‘em high
My soul is on the mountain and it’s
Ready to fly.
I’ll miss these fields of cotton
I’ll miss this shanty town
But we’ll make a place for you
When your turn comes around
I’ll miss the scent of sugarcane,
Sweet jasmine and lilac.
But we’re off to new adventures
And there is no turning back.
Once I was a simple man,
I did my daily best,
But something grew inside of me
A-pounding in my breast.
And now I’m even simpler,
I put my trust in God,
I do not know just where to go
But step where he has trod.
When I could go no further,
A broken, shattered man
Somehow the good Lord found me
And made me whole again
And if the train won’t leave the station
We’ll lift our voice and sing
And the cars will glide down the rails
Propelled by angels’ wings.
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